Six months after former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul committed suicide, the state’s cabinet has forwarded his suicide note and asked the Union Home Ministry to probe the matter in the way it sees fit.

Who was Kalikho Pul?Pul was a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) who revolted against the Congress-led Nabam Tuki government in 2015. He was the CM of Arunachal Pradesh for less than five months in 2016 before the Supreme Court held the dismissal of the Tuki government to be unconstitutional.

The day the SC gave its verdict, Pul resigned. Pul was Arunachal’s CM from February 2016 to July 2016. On 9 August 2016, Pul killed himself in Itanagar, the state capital.

Pul’s suicide noteThe day before he killed himself, Pul had written a 60-page note. The existence of this note was disclosed to the public only in October, while its contents were made available to the media only earlier this month.

In his suicide note, which has been titled “Mere Vichar” (My Thoughts), Pul levelled serious allegations of corruption against many top state politicians – including the current Chief Minister, Pema Khandu.

The accused include a number of individuals, including politicians from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC). It also includes allegations against people in the judiciary.

The full text of “Mere Vichar” (translated to English) can be read here.

Recent developmentsOn 18 February, Arunachal’s cabinet “resolved, without any prejudice to the matter being sub judice in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Itanagar Capital Complex, to be forwarded to the ministry of home affairs, the government of India, for investigation by any agency it deems fit.”

The cabinet did add, however, that Pul’s allegations in ‘Mere Vichar’ were “totally baseless, false and without any evidence/basis.”

Furthermore, Pul’s wife has been demanding a CBI probe into the matter.

In her two-page letter dated 17 February, Dangwimsai Pul wrote, “His diary/suicide note contains many allegations of corruption in Arunachal Pradesh as well as in the judiciary and in particular against two senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, who were parties to the judgment which quashed the President’s rule and led to the unseating of my husband … It is essential that an FIR be registered on the basis of the allegations contained in it (suicide note) and the case be investigated by the CBI since the primary allegation is of corruption of judges at the highest level.”

Further developments depend on whether the SC will consent to a CBI investigation, and to which agency the Home Ministry dispenses the responsibility of the case.

The Logical Indianhopes that the investigation into the former CM’s suicide will be thorough and conclusive. If aspects mentioned in Pul’s suicide note are found to be true, then strict action should be taken against the corrupt individuals.